Belfast west

The Cause Of Labour

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“”The cause of labour is the cause of Ireland, and the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour” – James Connolly”. From The Irish Flag, 1916.

The renovation and expansion of Áras Uí Chonghaile (web) was officially opened in 2019 and included “a bespoke corten steel extension that has an intricate perforated image of Connolly’s face” (RIBAJ).

Falls Road, west Belfast, a short distance from the house in which Connolly lived for a time – see the Peter Moloney collection.

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INLA Roll Of Honour

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“Irish National Liberation Army, Belfast Brigade, roll of honour. For national liberation and socialism in Ireland.” With the named of 22 volunteers who died between 1975 and 2021: Ferguson, Loughran, McNamee, Daly, Bunting, Little, Power, McLarnon, Craven, McCann, Power, O’Reilly, Kearney, Gargan, Gallagher, McColgan, Campbell, McWilliams, O’Hara, McMullan, McElkerney, McWilliams.

This is an extension, to the right, of the yellow-backgrounded panels seen in For A Socialist Republic (2021-05), Defund The Police (2022-09), and Bap McGreevy (2022-11).

Falls Road, Belfast.

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Clonard Amateur Boxing Club

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Michael Conlan is portrayed on perforated metal (by Graepels Perforators – Construction Ireland) on the refurbished electrical station that is now the new home of Clonard Amateur Boxing Club (Fb). Conlan boxed at the club for about a decade before turning pro (Belfast Live).

Gortfin Street/Beechmount Pass, Beechmount, west Belfast

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#BuildShankill

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A message from BUILD Shankill (web): “Did you know? The Shankill has over 80 waste sites the size of 62 football pitches with the space to build 3300 homes. #BuildShankill.” Members of the team, as well as representatives from the Housing Executive and the NI Executive, took a bus tour of the sites in June (Alternatives youtube channel).

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The Sporting Wing

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“The sporting wing [of the IRA]” is a play on the idea that Sınn Féın was the “political wing” of the IRA and so Celtic FC is the group’s “sporting wing”. Instead of Celtic’s usual four-leaf clover, three hooded gunmen fire a funeral volley.

The GAA has also been given the title (BelTel 2020); Sammy Wilson, as DUP press officer defending UDA attacks on GAA halls in Belfast and Banbridge, in September 1993, described the GAA as “the IRA at play” (WP). (For a history of the two organisations, see Irish Peace Process.)

Falls Road, west Belfast

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Eyes That Have Cried

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The phrase “There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried” is attributed to Óscar Romero, a Catholic priest in El Salvador. He was a critic of the military government and was assasinated in March 1980 while saying mass. He was made a saint in 2015. (WP)

Sister Janet Mead had a surprise hit in 1973 with a pop-rock rendition of the Lord’s Prayer (youtube).

This mural will be ten years old this (2023) summer, as will the Eileen Hickey Republican Museum mural that it is next to — see Eileen Hickey.

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At Home And Abroad

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Two types of mourner at the grave of a fallen WWI soldier: on the left, comrades in arms; on the right, members of the family they left behind.

Work on the mural began in December, 2021, but progress seems to have stalled. One of the bayonets is in outline as is the giant poppy overheard. The effect is that the scene seems to be taking place under the stars.

Ashmore Street, west Belfast

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Australian Aid

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Above and immediately below: banners of two Australian Republican support-groups, holding banners reading “Australian Aid for Ireland QLD [Queensland] Branch – The Spirit of Freedom” and “The Casement Support Group – Saoirse Melbourne”.

Third is Caırde Sınn Féın.

Fourth, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (amwu.org.au) sponsored the mural above in Conway Street. Then-secretary Craig Johnston is on the left in the back. The flag to the right is the flag of the Eureka Stockade. It joins others sponsored by Australian groups: A Bunch Of Live Wires (sponsored by the Electrical Trades Union) | Caırde Sınn Féın | Australian Aid For Ireland & Saoırse Melbourne. “Casement Memorial – In proud memory of the 10 Republican prisoners who died on hunger strike in “H” blocks of Long Kesh in 1981. ‘It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can endure the most who will conquer’ – Terence McSwiney. Unveiled by Martin McGuinness, Sınn Féın MP MLA Minister for Education Wednesday 6/12/2006 Donated by AMWU, Craig Johnston Secretary.”

Finally, the Australian Electrical Trades Union (ETU) in Victoria. “Says Joe, ‘Those that they forgot to kill went on to organise.’” from ‘(The Ballad Of) Joe Hill’.

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